 | THOMAS BOWEN HILL, JR. |
The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 1977.
Thomas Bowen Hill, Jr., a distinguished attorney from Montgomery, was born in Montgomery
on November 11, 1903, and receive his early education at the Barnes School where he graduated
in 1919. He attended the University of Alabama where he received his A.B. degree in 1922 and
his LL.B. degree in 1924. During the 1922-23 term he had an English Fellowship and in 1922-23 he was an associate professor of German. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Phi
Alpha Delta fraternities.
He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1924 and afterwards practiced law
continuously in Montgomery. He was senior member of the firm of Hill, Hill, Carter, Franco, Cole
and Black. He served as a special judge to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County and as a
Special Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, appointed in 1966 and again in 1968.
He was a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, which he served as president in
1933; the Alabama State Bar Association, which he served as vice-president in 1951-52 and as
president in 1952-53; the board of Commissioners of the Alabama Sate Bar Association, the
American Bar Association; House of Delegates, American Bar Association; Alabama Judicial
Council, 1953; American Judicature Society since 1948; American College of Trial Lawyers
since 1955; Committee to Advise Governor George Wallace on Constitutional Law and State
Sovereignty; charter member of the Farrah Law Society; Chairman of Committee on Continuing
Legal Education of the Alabama State Bar Association, 1953-55; Delegate, Alabama State Bar
to Judicial Conference of the Fifth Circuit; Fellow, American Bar Foundation since 1956; vice
chairman, University of Alabama Foundation, Inc.; and director of the University of Alabama
Law School Foundation.
Mr. Hill was president of the Montgomery Kiwanis Club in 1933; chapter chairman of the
Montgomery Chapter of the American Red Cross in 1945; Potentate of the Alcazar Temple
(Shrine) in 1948; was on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of
Montgomery since 1948 and the Children's Protective Home in Montgomery, 1954-56. He was a
former member of the Board of Directors of the Montgomery Country Club; a member of the
State Board of Directors, Alabama Motorists Association; Board of Directors of the Alabama
State Chamber of Commerce since 1966; the Board of Directors of the Alabama Bible Society;
and had a life membership in the Young Women's Christian Organization. He was chairman of
the Board of Directors of the Union Bank and Trust Company of Montgomery, 1955 to 1976.
He portrayed President Jefferson Davis in the Centennial re-enactment of the Inauguration of
President Davis as President of the Confederacy; was King Montala VII, Krewe of Phantom
Host, 1968; received the Freedoms Foundation Award at Valley Forge for his public address
entitled "This Land We Love" in 1971; and the Daniel J. Meador Outstanding Alumnus Award
in 1975 of the University of Alabama School of Law. Mr. Hill was an Episcopalian and was a
member of the vestry and served two terms as senior warden of the Church of the Ascension.
He was married to the former Mildred Ellen Abrams and they have four children: Thomas Bowen
Hill, III; Luther Abrams Hill; Mildred Inge Hill Hickson; and William Inge Hill, II. He is now deceased.
Updated: March 15, 2007